"While
seventh-grade textbooks describe Islam in glowing language, they portray
Christianity in harsh light.... Islam is featured as a model of interfaith
tolerance...." The
American Textbook Council, [2]

"When
the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them.."[3]
Qur'an [Sura] 9:5

Our
friend Tom enrolled his seventh grade son in a local Christian school
this year. But he felt a bit uneasy when he saw the new history text.
And as he leafed through the pages of World History: Medieval and Early
Modern Times (a standard nationwide textbook), his concern grew.

The
dramatic images, evocative suggestions and interesting group assignments
would probably prevent boredom, but what would his son actually learn?
How accurate were the lessons? And most important: What kinds of values
would they instill?

Page
4 (in the section on "Strategies") told students to "Try
to visualize the people, places, and events you read about."[4]
With all the inspiring stories and pictures, that should be easy! Group
dialogue and peer consensus would help seal those biased impressions!
This was not what Tom expected from a Christian school!

The
first unit dealt with the Roman Empire. It had nothing nice to say about
Christianity -- not a word about the courage, commitment and charity
of the persecuted Christians.

The
second unit covered "The Growth of Islam." It began with an
inspirational story that built a positive context for the rest of the
chapter: Thirteen-year-old Ayesha and her family went on a hajj [pilgrimage]
with "nearly 100,000" fellow Muslims ("a gross exaggeration"[2,p.19])
to Mecca back in 632 A.D. After the long, hot journey, "Ayesha
tells [her brother] Yazid that the trip has been very hard, but it was
also satisfying. They agree with their parents that being near Muhammad
was especially meaningful."[4,p.83]

This
warm introduction to Muhammad was followed by stirring descriptions
of Islam's miraculous beginnings, noble beliefs, vast conquests, amazing
scientific discoveries, and exceptional tolerance toward unbelievers.
But were they true?

The
facts are far less flattering. Back in the 7th century, large Muslim
armies fanned out in different directions, forcing their way through
the Middle East, Central Asia, northern Africa and southern Europe.
Resisters were massacred or enslaved, while the vast "unbelieving"
masses became taxpaying subjects at the mercy of Muslim rulers. Jews
and Christians [dhimmis] were held captive to the demeaning rules of
dhimmitude ["protection']. Here's a brief explanation from "The
Myth of Islamic Tolerance,"

"Jews
and Christians are termed 'People of the Book' in the Qur’an—that
is, communities that have received a genuine revelation from Allah.
That’s why they’re offered this 'protection' in an Islamic
state. However, the Qur’an also teaches that both Jews and Christians
have incurred the curse of Allah (Sura 5:60 and others) for their refusal
to receive Muhammad as a legitimate prophet and his Qur’an as
a book from Allah.... In fact, the Sharia
dictates that such a 'protection' agreement... 'is only valid when the
subject peoples follow the rules of Islam..."[5]

Those
rules included special dhimmi clothing that shows the Christian's low
social status, humble submission to Muslims everywhere, a ban on evangelizing
or building new churches, and many others. The constant threat of punishment
(i.e. loss of "protection" which often meant death or slavery)
-- along with the crushing tax for "unbelievers" -- broke
down resistance to Islamic conversion. In vast regions around the Mediterranean,
Christian communities were virtually wiped out.

Yet
the textbook tells students that the conquered masses were generally
impressed by Islam and willingly converted:

"For
more than 20 years, Muhammad had spread the word of Allah across the
Arabian peninsula. He had begun to establish a Muslim Empire. ... Islam
brought order, justice, and hope of heaven into their lives."[4,p.99]

"There
was much blending of cultures under Muslim rule. Over time, many peoples
in Muslim-ruled territories converted to Islam. They were attracted
by Islam's message of equality and hope for salvation."[4,p.101]

To
make sure students don't miss that last point, it's repeated on page
105:

"By
661, the Muslim Empire had been expanded to nearly four times its size
by Muhammad's successors. It then included all of Southwest Asia and
stretched into North Africa. ... Many conquered people became Muslims.
They found Islam's message of equality and hope attractive."

Tom
was stunned! Why this idealization of Islam? There was no such support
for "Christianity." [See
note] In the section on the Crusades (to retake the "Holy Land"),
Christians were presented as violent attackers. The fact that Jerusalem
was central to both Jewish and Christian history was ignored. While
most Crusaders tended to be mercenaries rather than "Christians,"
such bias against any semblance of "Christianity" is striking.

References
to slavery were just as misleading. "While Christian belligerence
is magnified, Islamic inequality, subjugation, and enslavement get the
airbrush," wrote Gilbert T. Sewall in an excellent report titled
"Islam
in the Classroom: What the textbooks tell us." After examining
the six main World History texts for junior high students, he and The
American Textbook Council concluded that--

"Textbooks
mention Islamic slavery only obliquely... or not at all. Enslaved Africans
and Slavs were transported to Muslim lands from the eighth century on.
Slaves were accumulated through conquest, tribute, and sale....

"Muslim
enslavement went on from the Balkans to Africa and Central Asia, and
the estimated fourteen million slaves taken captive by Muslim rulers
all over the world was a larger population than the eleven million Africans
exported to the New World before 1850. In the holy cities of Mecca and
Medina, in the late nineteenth century, an estimated twenty-five thousand
slaves were traded annually."[2,p.23]

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In
the chapters on "European Renaissance and Reformation" the
light of political correctness shone briefly on the Protestant Church.
To help students internalize a new view of Christianity, the text included
a story about Martin Luther -- an excerpt from a biographical children's
book by the notoriously liberal pastor, Harry
Emerson Fosdick. Dr. Fosdick led Manhattan's large interdenominational
Riverside Church built by John
D. Rockefeller, Jr. No wonder his excerpts misrepresented the courage
and convictions behind Luther's battle against theological corruption.
Missing were Luther's famous words, "Here I stand, I can do no
other, so help me God." [4][4,p.467-469]

In
contrast to the negative and confusing treatment of Christianity, the
"Five Pillars of Islam" got plenty of positive attention.
This set of basic rules was repeated several times throughout the book.
Page 95 explains their significance:

"Muslims
try to connect their personal and religious lives. They live their religion
and serve their community by following the Five Pillars of Islam. These
are the five duties all Muslims must perform to demonstrate their submission
to the will of God."

"Muslims
believe the Quran is the word of God as revealed to Muhammad. Jews and
Christians also believe that God's word is revealed in their holy books.
But Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the final book. They also think
that Muhammad is the last prophet."[4]

Since
Muhammad was the "last prophet," his teachings supposedly
supersede the teachings of Jesus. And in spite of the textbook's assurances
of hope and tolerance, Islam's global aims and militant threats are
every bit as real today as in the seventh century. Whether living in
the East or the West, its leaders still envision global Islamic dominion
and religious supremacy -- and the Qur'an
still calls Muhammad's followers to jihad:

"And
fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should
be only for Allah." (Sura 2.193, 8.39)

"Fight
those who do not believe in Allah... out of those who have been given
the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and
they are in a state of subjection." (Sura 9.29)

"Surely
Allah loves those who fight in His way..." (Sura 61.4)

"...surely
the unbelievers are your open enemy." (Sura 4:101)

"They
desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that
you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends
until they fly in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them
and kill them wherever you find them..." (Sura 4:89) [3]

This
recent article from the British Times
Online illustrates this ongoing threat:

"The
first brick was thrown through the sitting room window at one in the
morning, waking Nissar Hussein, his wife and five children with a terrifying
start.... The victim of a three-year campaign of religious hatred, Mr.
Hussein’s car has also been rammed and torched.... His car, walls
and windows have been daubed in graffiti: 'Christian bastard'....

"Mr.
Hussein... is one of a growing number of former Muslims in Britain who
face not just being shunned by family and community, but attacked, kidnapped,
and in some cases killed. There is even a secret underground network
to support and protect those who leave Islam.... For police, religious
authorities and politicians, it is an issue so sensitive that they are
accused by victims of refusing to respond to appeals for help....

"Muslims
who lose their faith face execution or imprisonment, in line with traditional
Muslim teaching in many Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,
Egypt and Yemen. In the Netherlands, the former Muslim MP Ayan Hirsi
Ali had to go into hiding after renouncing her faith on television....

"Yasmin
[another convert to Christianity] has helped to set up a series of support
groups across England, who have adopted a method of operating normally
associated with dissidents in dictatorships, not democracies.... The
family of an 18-year-old girl whom Yasmin was helping found that she
had been hiding a Bible in her room, and visiting church secretly. 'I
tried to do as much as possible to help her, but they took her to Pakistan
‘on holiday’. Three weeks later, she was drowned..."[6]

Why?
How can this be happening in Europe! What has happened to Western objectivity,
conviction and freedom?

The
American Textbook Council helps answer that question. After a thorough
examination of the primary US textbooks and their publishers, it concluded
that--

"Textbook
editors try to avoid any subject that could turn into a political grenade.
Willingly, they adjust the definition of jihad and Sharia or remove
these words from lessons to avoid inconvenient truths that the editors
fear activists will contest. Explicit facts that non-Muslims might find
disturbing are varnished or deleted....Terrorism and Islam are uncoupled
and the ultimate dangers of Islamic militancy hidden from view.

"None
of this is accidental. Islamic organizations, willing to sow misinformation,
are active in curriculum politics. These activists are eager to expunge
any critical thought about Islam from textbooks and all public discourse.
They are succeeding, assisted by partisan scholars and associations.
It is not remarkable that Islamic organizations would try to use ready-made
American political movements such as multiculturalism to adjust the
history curriculum to their advantage. It is alarming that so many individuals
with the power to shape the curriculum are willfully blind to or openly
sympathetic with these efforts.

"Multiculturalists
are determined that social studies curricula do not transmit 'Eurocentric'...
presuppositions about Western history and society. Middle East centers
on campuses promote an uncritical view of Islam, often with a caustic
anti-Western spin. Historians actively interested in taking world history
curricula in this direction are prominent in textbook authorship. Encouraged
to do so by reputable authorities, textbook publishers court the Council
on Islamic Education and other Muslim organizations—or at least
try to appease them."[2,p.9]

In
this context of global change, "Christians" such as Harry
Emerson Fosdick fit right in. Like Muslims, he accepted the reality
of a "Jesus" but denied His deity, resurrection, and miraculous
birth. No wonder he was favored by the
Rockefellers. He was no threat to their vision of socialist
unity.

Though
Islam is incompatible with the vision of multicultural solidarity, it's
still one of the world's most effective weapons in its battle against
absolute Truth. It provides globalist change agents with (1) an energizing
crisis, (2) the diversity and tension needed to stimulate the dialectic
process, and (3) an active partner in the war
against Biblical Christianity.

Why
is this important?

A
spiritual war is raging! And the primary target in today's march toward
a New World Order is Biblical Truth. It's no accident that the European
media describes Christians as "hardliners" and "fighters"[7]
but hardly dare mention the violent power behind the rising Muslim establishment.
Or that the British government now allows Muslims
to impose Sharia in their communities.[8]
Or that countless critics have been assaulted or killed for their convictions.
Or that "Hate
Crime" laws may soon silence American dissenters.[9]

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Let
me repeat two Scriptures that I often quote these days. We can't afford
to ignore them:

"...we
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take
up the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to withstand..." Ephesians 6:10-12

"Do
not be discouraged... For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
2 Chronicles 20:15

Footnotes:

**
Explaining our references to "Christianity: In the textbooks, as
well as in our culture, Christianity means different things. While the
references to Islam refer to a religious and political system based
on the Qur'an, the historical meaning of Christianity varies. It may
mean "cultural Christianity," politicized Christianity, or
Biblical Christianity. See Biblical
versus Cultural Christianity

Berit
Kjos is a widely respected researcher, writer and conference speaker.
A frequent guest on national radio and television programs, Kjos has been
interviewed on Point of View (Marlin Maddoux), The 700 Club, Bible Answer
Man, Beverly LaHaye Live, Crosstalk and Family Radio Network. She has
also been a guest on "Talk Back Live" (CNN) and other secular
radio and TV networks. Her last two books are A Twist of Faith and
Brave New Schools.Kjos
Ministries

A spiritual war is
raging! And the primary target in today's march toward a New World Order
is Biblical Truth. It's no accident that the European media describes
Christians as "hardliners" and "fighters"
but hardly dare mention the violent power behind the rising Muslim establishment.